Victor Wembanyama's feet may have grown as much as two sizes during his first NBA season, a detail that sounds almost unreal until the paper trail is laid out. The San Antonio Spurs' 7-foot-4 center, listed at 235 pounds on his NBA profile, reportedly went through five different shoe sizes during the 2023-24 season.
That range matters because Wembanyama was officially listed at size 20 before his rookie season, then was believed to be around 20.5 when he entered the league. By the end of the season, his shoe size had expanded to 21.5, according to Aaron Dodson, who wrote on July 26, 2024, that the French star's feet may have grown as much as two sizes in his first year. Dodson also noted that a pair of Wembanyama's player-issued Nike GT Hustle 2 shoes was auctioned in size 22, the same number that would tie him with Shaquille O'Neal and Bob Lanier for the largest feet in NBA history if it becomes his official size.
The size debate has followed Wembanyama because he is already one of the most unusual players in the league. The Spurs revealed after the 2023 NBA draft that his height is 7-foot-3 1/2, even though his NBA profile lists him at 7-foot-4. He also moves like a guard at times, which makes the scale of his growth even more striking. His father, Felix Wembanyama, is estimated to be 6-foot-6, and his mother, Elodie de Fautereau, is 6-foot-3, so his frame has never come from an ordinary family tree.
Nike has been paying attention. Deepa Ramprasad, Nike basketball footwear director, said, 'We’ve had athletes before who are considered big in the space of basketball and footwear,' but added, 'But, it almost feels like Wemby and his feet are ever-growing, right?' She said of the young star, 'An athlete that young, whose body is evolving at the rate his is? The best word to use is dynamic.' Wembanyama already has an endorsement deal with Nike and has been featured with an Alien logo in marketing campaigns, though fans are still waiting for a signature shoe even as he has his own colorway in the brand's G.T. series.
The evidence now points to a player whose size is still changing while the league tries to keep up with him. Shaquille O'Neal's foot grew from size 19 to 22 from 1992 to 1995, and if Wembanyama reaches 22 officially, he will be in that rarest of company. For now, the story is not just how big he is. It is how much bigger he may still get.
